Fox face $1.6m indecency fine

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Federal regulators have proposed a record $1.6 million fine on
Fox Broadcasting for violating indecency rules.

The fine,, the latest penalty in an ongoing crackdown, stems
from the airing of an episode of the short-lived series Married
in America, which ran in 2003. The show included scenes from a
bachelor party involving strippers and prostitutes.

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed each Fox
station that aired the show pay a $US7,000 ($A9,598) fine.

Fox, a unit of News Corp., has 182 stations, not all of which
carried the show. Thirteen stations were not fined.

In the past year, companies including CBS and Infinity
Broadcasting were fined for violating indecency rules. Under those
rules, explicit references to sexual or excretory acts are banned
during prime-time hours of 6am to 10pm, when children could be
watching.

Unlike the CBS case, the FCC decided to fine Fox affiliates
because they had seen tapes of the show and could have pre-empted
them.

CBS affiliates were not fined because the violation, the baring
of pop star Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl halftime
show, occurred live. The affiliates had no control over that event
and did not know ahead of time what would happen, the FCC said.

Fox officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Though Fox pushes the envelope in terms of risque programming,
the network has not previously been fined for violating indecency
rules.

In the wake of a series of violations, however, the FCC has
grown more vigilant.

US lawmakers have also stepped in, promoting legislation to
stiffen fines. However, it is unlikely legislation will pass this
year amid disagreement in Congress over certain provisions of the
proposed bill.

The FCC launched an investigation last year after a complaint
filed by the Parents Television Council in April 2003.